Two Sides of the Same Coin
by FlareGun343
Summary: A story about everyone's favorite dysfunctional cop-and-robber relationship, and the ups and downs the participants experience. Neither of them thought it possible, but hey, maybe they can make it work. Sly x Carmelita. Fav, follow, review, all that good stuff.
1. The Beginning

**Summary: A retelling of the ending of Sly 1, which would mark the beginning of the relationship between Sly Cooper and Carmelita Fox.**

It had been a long and hard journey, but Sly Cooper had finally taken the last piece of the Thievius Raccoonus from Clockwerk. He had beaten the whole Fiendish Five, one by one, in order to reclaim the aforementioned book. Sly had considered the book to be his birthright, after all; it had taken him forever to get it back. He knew that he couldn't have done it without his friends, in fact. He took a moment to thank them silently, before remembering that Inspector Carmelita Fox was there too.

She had promised to give Sly a ten second head start when she was free. Granted, the raccoon would have talked his way into getting away, no questions asked, but time was of the essence, and he took comfort in knowing he could get himself out of her claws once she was free. He turned from where he stood looking into the lava, and there she was. Waiting for him. She had her shock pistol pointed at him, and her handcuffs were in the other hand. The thief had a moment of panic before she spoke to him.

"Relax, Ringtail. I told you I was gonna give you that head start, and that head start's exactly what you're gonna get," Carmelita said, as Sly did, in fact, ease up.

"Aww, Miss Fox, isn't there some way you could just sorta...let me go? After all, you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me," Sly effortlessly said back. He had done it a few times, been coy, or, one could even say, _sly,_ to the Interpol agent in their back-and-forth games in the past. But Sly knew that this time, it wasn't a game. Or was it?

"No can do, Cooper. Gotta bring you in. I'd suggest you start running, no?" Carmelita tilted her head a bit, a small amount confused the raccoon wasn't running already. They'd had their banter before, and it typically ended in a chase, with Sly getting away, leaving the vixen to stew in the rage that followed. Her temper didn't make the matters any better, and to Sly, it seemed as if she was a bit more angry every time they encountered.

"Fair enough, I suppose," He responded. He had made it this far, might as well have some fun.

 _One._

Sly leaned against his cane, the book he had fought so hard to get closed in one hand. Mentally, he counted to himself the seconds he had earned, and thought for a moment. Sly could tell from a few of their encounters that the Inspector had a thing for him. _"They always did like me. I guess it has something to do with being, what would Bentley say, 'undoubtedly unhealthy' for them,"_ was a thought that ran through the raccoon's head. Which wasn't weird in the slightest, he sort of liked her too, he realized, deep down inside, but it could never work. He was a thief, she was a cop. It was her place in life to make sure he never got to do the things he did, and that meant that a relationship between the two of them, even if one was struck up, wouldn't last long, and would probably end in excruciating pain for the both of them.

 _Two._

 _I have been here for too damn long to let that dirty thief away from me again,_ Carmelita thought to herself. She kept her hand steady, her sidearm at the ready to dispatch Cooper once his ten seconds were up. She couldn't let the way she felt get in the way of her assignment; she had been given the Sly Cooper case, and she'd be damned if she were to let him away. But Carm seemed to notice that he was standing there. Unmoving. As if he had never been issued the challenge in the first place. The fox narrowed her eyes, and kept careful watch. _That bastard could be planning something dangerous..._

 _Three._

Not even halfway through the countdown, and Sly was already giving Carmelita that coy smile of his from behind his mask. Weird, how he wore that, considering raccoons already have black around their eyes and he looked almost exactly the same without it. It was all part of the fa _ç_ ade, he supposed, trying to look as cool as he could, being just as slick as his attire was. After all, he was Sly, in both name and personality. The vixen opposite him probably thought the same thing, and the idea of that was enough to make the raccoon a bit flustered.

 _Four._

 _Why isn't he moving_? Carmelita was extremely confused. It wasn't like Cooper to just up and give himself up like that. He liked to play games, to goad you into doing something you shouldn't do. All of this the fox knew, but there was something... **alluring**...about him. Something that made him, as irritating as he got, rather likable. She supposed that was why he had amassed his following and been able to pull off such incredible heists under her nose. But, none of that mattered. It wouldn't. After she had gotten rid of him, it wouldn't make any difference.

 _Five._

"Something troubling you, Inspector?" Sly spoke. There was a bit of tension, and being who he was, he was going to do something to it. Make it better or worse, he hadn't decided yet.

"You're not running. Why aren't you running?" Carmelita asked.

"I don't even need the ten seconds, Inspector...I could get out of here any time I wanted, as fast as I wanted, and you probably wouldn't even notice." He smirked. He was deliberately being irritating.

 _Six._

"Well, then, _pendejo_ , if you don't need them, why in the hell did you ask?" Carmelita's anger began to flare. The damned raccoon was playing with her, toying with her emotions, and she wasn't too appreciative of it.

"Maybe I just like standing here. Watching you. Waiting. Perhaps you'd like that, hmm?"

At that Carmelita herself became a bit flustered. It was a bit obvious that the thief was trying to confuse her, to get his quick getaway he bragged about, and yet, something inside her believed he was sincere. That he meant it. That he thought she was cute, or something like that. He knew that she'd been harboring feelings, and now, he was capitalizing on it. Her anger swelled a bit more, becoming a bit hotter.

 _Seven._

 _Ah, there we go._ She was upset, and Sly was all the more grateful for it. He could get away from her just as easy as he said he could. But, he felt a bit bad about it. He was manipulating her, and that wasn't a very honorable thing to do. Before his father had died, he had promised to be a master thief, and in his opinion, there was no honor in making Carmelita feel bad for how she felt. He'd make it up to her somehow.

 _Eight._

"Time's almost up, Ringtail," She had growled.

"I know. Don't worry about it," Sly replied.

"You seem awfully cocky for someone about to go to jail," Carmelita almost snarled back.

" _Me?_ Go to jail? Carm, I thought you knew me better than that..." Sly chuckled.

"I know you better than you know yourself, Ringtail, so I'd suggest you watch it." She was moments away from foaming at the mouth. He was so irritating, so deliberately obnoxious, why did _he_ have to be the one she'd fallen for?

 _Nine._

Sly had already thought of his plan. He smiled a bit more. He had had it thought out quite a while ago, but, now it was the time to implement it. Time to make up for his annoying disposition earlier, but also time to make sure he lived to steal again.

 _Ten._

"That's it, Ringtail. You're out of time. I hope-" And that was as far as she had gotten.

Sly had rushed forward the moment her leering gaze shifted, and like the thief he was, stolen a kiss from Carmelita Fox. It was a quick one, but it was also filled with emotion, passion, and above all to the Inspector, sincerity. She was dazed momentarily afterwards, swooning from the emotions she was currently feeling. She put a hand to her lips, and was going to move her other, but something was stopping her arm from moving. She looked at the railing near her hand, and saw that the sneaky devil had not only given her what she wanted, but also given her something she didn't want. Her hand was cuffed to the rail, and Cooper had the key. Almost immediately, her daze turned into frustration. He had gotten away, **and** used her own god damned handcuffs to leave her stranded there.

She would be getting away, she knew that. Just not before Sly was already gone. She frowned angrily, shortly before trading her shock pistol into her free hand, and shooting off the metal. She holstered her weapon, rubbed her wrist, before turning to the darkness behind her, and screaming.

" _ **COOPER!"**_

Sly chuckled a bit, as he heard the sound behind him. He was happy, for more than one reason. He eagerly anticipated the next time he encountered the hot-tempered fox. Perhaps things would be different now. Maybe there was something in this life of his that wasn't stealing. But he wasn't ready to give up the game just yet. He'd know for certain when it was over. _And maybe,_ he thought, _she'll know, too._


	2. The Visit

**Summary: Sly invades Carmelita's apartment to speak with her about what had happened the last time they encountered one another.**

It had been quite a while since they had seen each other. Certainly, Sly had thought about her, wanting to encounter her again as soon as possible, but the heists he planned took a rather long time. Even so, he took a bit of comfort in knowing that Carmelita would have been there, in one of her inevitable attempts to arrest him. They'd exchange words, perhaps flirt a bit, and then Sly would run. It was how it had always went. But, now, Sly was beginning to wonder if maybe things would change.

The raccoon had at one point considered himself patient, but there was something that told him he couldn't wait, something that said he needed to see her _now._ And with that, Sly caved, and decided he would make the trip that night. Sly and his friends had another gathering in which they planned for the heist, with Bentley doing most of the actual planning, Sly cracking jokes and occasionally putting in some real input, whereas Murray mostly listened, laughed, and ate all of the donuts that Sly sometimes sneaked away from a bakery nearby.

When that was all said and done, Sly had changed into something less suspicious: a blue hoodie, a pair of jeans, and his precious hat. He had grabbed his cane and was on his way out the door before he was stopped by Bentley, who had chosen then to look up from his computer to see what his friend was up to.

"So, Sly, where are you headed to? At this hour, no less?" The turtle had said, in the nasally voice Sly always heard him speak in.

"Out. Paris is nice at night this time of year, so I'm told," Sly had shot back.

"Ha, ha. Very funny, pal." A pause. "Alright, well, be careful, Sly, you don't want to get yourself in any unnecessary trouble," Bentley responded.

Sly had laughed a bit at that. "I'm nineteen, Bentley. And you know me. I'll be fine, don't worry,"

Bentley had nodded back in a final response, and turned back to his computer. Sly stepped outside, closed the hideout's door, and breathed a sigh of relief. He would have to be more careful if he was to do this again. The thief didn't want his friends catching onto where he was going. It would have gotten both him and the Inspector into quite a spot of trouble. He stopped worrying, and took off into the night. Sly knew where Carmelita lived (which was moderately creepy) and figured it was about time for her to get off of work, so he would pay her a visit. _That ought to surprise her,_ he had thought.

It was an apartment complex, rather nice, quite a ways from the hideout. She lived on the top floor, which made the matter of getting himself up there that much easier. Sly used his cane to grab the rails that hung off of the balconies of each level, and got himself onto the balcony leading up to the fox's home. He was beginning to wonder if he would have had to pick the lock on the door, before he put a hand on it, and it swung open slowly. _Slipped right in,_ Sly thought. The raccoon entered, and closed the door behind him. It didn't seem as if Carm was home yet, so he came up with a plan to be as surprising as possible. It was only a matter of time before he put it into effect...

Carmelita Fox had parked her car in the lot of her complex, and breathed a heavy sigh. Her boss had been a bit hard on her lately, ever since he had found out about Cooper getting away from her some months ago. And yet, he hadn't taken her off the case, almost as if he knew she still had it in her to catch one of Paris's most notorious criminals. She got out of her car, and closed and locked the door, before going inside the building to ascend the stairs to her apartment. She hadn't told Barkley about what had happened after Clockwerk's destruction, as there were some details in there that would most certainly destroy both her job and her reputation. But thinking about it, she supposed it wasn't _that_ bad. She had gotten a kiss from Sly, something she had wished for for a while, even if it was only so that he could distract her and slip away from him. _Damn him, and his sneaky ways..._ She had thought, before taking her key out of her coat pocket and opening her door.

The vixen had no idea that Sly was inside, waiting for her. And wait he did, considering she got to do quite a bit before he showed his face. Carmelita was incredibly tired, and decided she would just watch TV and lie down on the couch until she fell asleep. She turned on the flatscreen in her living room, and walked back up to the door she had entered from, and hung her keys and shock pistol up on a couple of hooks she had installed in the wall. The fox turned around, with the intent of taking her place in front of her television, only to find the last thing she had expected to see.

There was Sly Cooper, in all of his glory, staring at _her_ TV, with a bag of chips in one hand, and his other hand in the bag. No doubt the chips were hers too, but that was the least of her worries at the moment. The raccoon had noticed the vixen standing there, and gave a slight nod, as if it was no big deal he was there in the first place. She turned to grab her sidearm from where she had left it, only to see that it somehow wasn't there.

"Ah, ah, ah - getting a bit ahead of ourselves, aren't we?" Sly playfully scolded. Carmelita rotated at that, and saw that the thief had her gun. There it was, hanging off of his cane, momentarily before he snatched it off, and twirled it around a finger, before putting it in one of his own pockets. He smirked at Carmelita.

" _ **You.**_ Why the hell are you here?" Carmelita demanded. There was a little part of her that didn't want him to leave, but there were more important matters at hand.

"I couldn't wait any longer, _mon amour._ I had to come see you again. Didn't want to have to steal something to get to talk to you," Sly said honestly.

Carmelita couldn't tell if he was playing with her again or if he meant what he had said in French. She didn't let it faze her for too long, however, as she had almost immediately thought of a reply.

"I could wait. I could wait quite a while, _mapache._ You're aware that what you're doing right now is a crime, yes?" Carmelita spoke back. She was a bit furious with him for not only breaking into her house, but for being this arrogant about it. He was always kind of arrogant, though, she realized. And it was part of what made him so alluring, that he could always manage to be this cool in situations.

"Crime?" Sly inquired. "I haven't stolen anything... _yet_."

"Breaking and entering. Evading arrest. That sort of thing, Ringtail."

"I didn't break in, the door was unlocked, and I highly doubt simply 'entering' is a crime," the raccoon coyly replied.

"Don't be cute with me. You and I both know you shouldn't be here."

"I _shouldn't,_ but I am."

"I'm going to give you ten goddamn seconds before I force you out," she snarled.

"Because that ended so perfect for all of us last time, hmm?" Sly tilted his head as he said it.

Carmelita was left nearly speechless. She wasn't in the mood for Sly and his mixed signals, the ones that threw her awry so often on their chases, and had reached a high note so long ago with the incident he mentioned.

"Oh. I probably shouldn't have mentioned that." Sly winced a bit. "Sorry."

"Sly."

His attention was caught by the usage of his actual name, which coming out of Carmelita's mouth, was far and few between.

"...Yeah?"

"Why are you here?"

Sly gave his, once again, honest answer. "I came to see you. I felt like I should have, after what happened last time."

"I find that somewhat difficult to believe, all things considered," she replied.

He sat up, one hand gripping his cane. "What, you don't think I have feelings or something like that?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant, it's just..." _I didn't think you cared enough to come out here, as illegal as it was,_ is what she wanted to say. But she let the sentence trail off, not having the courage to say what she actually was thinking. That was a bit odd, for her, being as stubborn and hardy as she was.

"It's alright, I know what it is you think I came here for," he sighed. And with that, he got up, and twirled his cane a bit, before turning around, and walking towards the door. Carmelita would have walked a bit forward, with the intent of stopping him, when Sly quickly turned again at the door, swung his cane out, and wrapped it around the vixen's waist. He pulled her closer to him, so that their faces were extremely close. The fox was confused at first when the cane wrapped around her, but the confusion quickly turned to anxiety as Sly's face was remarkably close to her own.

Sly had never taken this long to look at the Inspector this close, considering their relationship as it stood. He noticed the little mole underneath her eye, and then her eyes, which were a very captivating hazel. Her hair, however, was one of Sly's favorite parts about her. Her hair, be it natural or dyed, was a very similar shade of blue than that of what he typically wore. Sly's favorite color was blue.

"Carmelita Montoya Fox...would you like to go out with me?" Sly slowly, and almost _sensually,_ said to her.

If she weren't who she was, the vixen would have agreed, and then maybe even taken him for herself right then and there. But Carmelita was an Interpol officer. Something like this couldn't possibly work out to end well. And yet, as dangerous as it was, she found herself wanting it more and more.

"C-Cooper," she said quietly, suddenly finding herself without words. "I don't know if it's going to go well for either of us..."

Sly reached his hand that wasn't holding his cane up to her face and brushed away a few strands of her hair to cup her face in a hand. "We'll keep it on the down low, if that would help...I'm _very_ good when it comes to disguises."

She sighed. _I can't say no to him, can I_ _?_ she thought.

"Well, assuming you're as good as you say you are...I don't suppose I could refuse."

He smiled at that. Not a triumphant smile, because there was nothing to win in this case. They would both come out of this on top, he hoped. The smile was more thankful than anything else. "It's a date, then." And with that, he closed the gap between their faces, and kissed her again. This time, it was longer, filled with more emotion than the first one, and it was almost, _almost,_ as good as the first one.

They separated after that for a moment, and they discussed the matter for a while, before another peck on the cheek was given to Sly as he left the same way he had come. Unseen. Which was best, for the both of them. Nobody could know about it, and it was going to be hard to keep under wraps, but both of them were willing to try.

 _Love is going to make me do some stupid things, isn't it?_ Sly thought, as he dashed his way back to the hideout. There wasn't going to be much room for error in this case. It would have to be perfect. Which, both of them would know, wasn't exactly a bad thing.


	3. The Ride

**Summary: A recap of the end of Sly 2, which marks a sort of first date between Sly and Carmelita.  
**

Sly was a bit disappointed that what had happened was right before him and Carmelita were supposed to have their first date. Which meant that, unfortunately, they would have to wait to have their day together. Or, so they had thought.

The short version was that Carmelita's partner, Constable Neyla, had betrayed them and used the pieces of Clockwerk to become a similar being, dubbed Clock-La. Sly and his gang had defeated her, but at quite the cost. Bentley's legs were broken, and he was probably crippled. They stood amid the wreckage of the now vanquished Clock-La, but Sly had noticed that the parts weren't damaged in the slightest, aside from the separation of them. They remained pristine, somehow. As Sly stood beside Murray, who was clutching the now horribly wounded Bentley to his chest, Carmelita came down from seemingly nowhere in a helicopter.

The Inspector was absolutely livid, for plenty of good reasons: Neyla had stabbed her in the back, she had missed her date with Sly, and at the moment what she considered to be the worst of all was that her ex-partner wasn't there for her to land a few hits on. She had come up to the solemn gathering, and Sly could immediately tell that the vixen was seething with rage. Carmelita, in a sudden outburst of rage, grabbed the Hate Chip from the thief, thrown it to the ground, and crushed it with the heel of her boot.

Just like that, the pieces began to age, and after some time, faded away. Sly had thought it ironic that the Interpol agent had freed the Cooper lineage from Clockwerk, and he took some comfort in knowing that the hellish metal bird would never come back to threaten Sly or his children. He then smiled to himself, considering he had a pretty good idea who, exactly, he might be having some of those children with.

Carmelita, however, didn't have anything to think about except how much it sucked that she hadn't been there sooner, and raised her shock pistol.

"Alright, Cooper, game's over. You and your friends are under arrest," she told the trio.

Sly took a moment to glance over at Bentley and Murray. That glance told him all he needed to know, that all of them couldn't make a fast getaway like they had last time.

"Miss Fox."

Carmelita's eyes trained on the raccoon.

"I'll go quietly... _if_ you let my friends go."

The fox considered it for a moment. She had learned a while ago that it was rather difficult saying no to Sly, and so, she simply nodded her head. Sly watched his friends walk away, before the vixen got behind him and pressed the barrel of the pistol into his back. She led him back to the helicopter, in handcuffs, and after a short conversation with her boss that consisted of a congratulations for clearing her name and a well-earned promotion, Sly couldn't help but smile, and think to himself, _You're welcome._

Once the pair were on the helicopter, Sly and Carm had sat opposite one another. They did nothing for a while except stare at each other, trying to read the other's thoughts.

Carmelita was thinking about a few things, namely how her feelings conflicted on her capturing the thief. She was happy, because she had proven herself, and would be moving up in her field, but also sad, for she loved him and didn't entirely want to turn her in. She couldn't pick anything up off of Sly. He was good at remaining calm, and didn't show any hint of emotion on his face except that stupid smile he got when he was trying to be cute with her, which had annoyed her so many times.

"I suppose you win this time, Miss Fox," Sly had said, with a slight shrug. "It's a shame this is going to end."

"You and I must have different definitions of the word 'shame'," the vixen replied. The pair had to at least try and keep up the act, the one which showed that their relationship was strictly professional.

"Oh, please. You aren't going to miss our encounters; you telling me how much you'd like to see me behind bars and screaming how I wasn't going to get away that time, and me, of course, getting away that time?"

"You didn't get away _this_ time, Ringtail, don't forget about that."

"I've got a trick or two you haven't seen too much of yet. Especially the one I used last time," Sly had said, a smirk on his face. He figured that she was probably going to blush or something, both at the reminder that he could get away and the reminder of how that getaway was probably his best one yet.

"You try that again, and I promise you you'll be in that cell with a couple hundred more volts in you than you should," Carmelita replied coldly, but she smiled at him afterwards.

"Oh, Carm, you wound me sometimes," he had chuckled, shortly before Carmelita laughed a bit too.

There was a bit of silence, in which Sly had gotten an idea. They had missed their date, because of all the craziness that had happened, and perhaps Sly could make this exactly that.

"So, Inspector, since I'm never going to see you again, as a sort of last request, why don't you tell me what it is you do when you aren't chasing me down?"

Carmelita wasn't quite expecting that, but she answered all the same. "Oh, you know, same as everyone else...books, music, art, all that."

He laughed a bit. "Could you be a bit more specific?"

She did get specific, and coincidentally, they shared many of the same interests. They both had enjoyed the book _The Catcher in the Rye_ when the both of them were forced to read it in high school. Sly's all-time favorite book, though, was one called _Catch-22_ that Carmelita had never gotten to read, to which Sly promised he'd loan her his paperback of the book, which he also promised he had bought and not stolen. Carmelita said her favorite book was probably one of the Sherlock Holmes books, a series Sly had indeed read and thoroughly enjoyed.

After discussing novels for a bit, they moved on to music. Carmelita said her favorite musician was definitely Neil Diamond, saying she owned all of his records and not much of anything else. Sly had never taken a chance to listen to him, but promised himself he would now that he knew it was something she was interested in. Sly wasn't a big fan of commercial music, being a bit more into things he could do himself. Bentley had taught him to play guitar - Sly had insisted after finding out that girls were very much interested in musicians - and he was trying to learn how to play this golden violin he had stolen on one of his heists. It sounded horrible, though, probably had something to do with it being made of gold.

The pair briefly touched on the subject of art. Sly wasn't very much into art either, but Carmelita certainly was. She didn't own very many paintings, the best of them being somewhat expensive and not having enough space in her miniscule apartment to hang all of the ones she wanted to up. But, she said that one of her favorite artists was definitely Picasso, to which Sly replied that he had probably taken a few of his originals on his heists.

After a while, they had run out of things to talk and laugh about. They started talking a bit about their past encounters, and the vixen said something that caught Sly's attention.

"You know, I had a bottle of champagne saved for when I finally caught you."

"Really, now?" Sly thought that funny, considering how things were between them now.

As if to prove it, she showed him the bottle, and would have cracked it open right then and there and perhaps even given some to Sly if she hadn't seen her watch and noticed that they had been on that helicopter for two hours. She looked at Sly confusedly for a moment, before setting the bottle down, and heading up to ask the pilot what was taking so long.

Sly had gotten out of his handcuffs an hour ago. He had stayed because him and Carmelita were having so much fun, but, unfortunately, the fun had to come to an end now. She turned around, after seeing that there was no pilot in the first place, just in time to find Sly holding the bottle of champagne, and waving goodbye, saying, "I'll swing by later so we can reschedule, Miss Fox, but now, I've got to be going."

He jumped out, and began floating to the ground with the aid of his para-glider. He could scarcely hear it, but hear it he did, and it was the resounding call of Carmelita's voice.

" ** _I'll find you, Cooper!_** "

She was peering out from the helicopter, and watched him float away. A small smile played at the corners of her lips. She wasn't going to find him, but he was definitely going to find her. She would be waiting for him, and the vixen said to herself one last thing before she would get back to HQ.

"I'll be seeing you soon, Ringtail."


	4. The Date

**Summary: Sly and Carmelita go on their _actual_** **first date.**

Sly did, as he had promised, go back to Carmelita's the same way he had last time, except he had knocked on the balcony door instead of letting himself in. Before getting to the topic at hand, the fox mentioned that she had thought it cute that he had given back her champagne bottle with one of his calling cards, to which Sly smiled at, and told her it was his pleasure. Formalities aside, they discussed the matter of actually going out, and eventually set a date and time before Sly got back to his hideout as fast as he could. The raccoon didn't know why he was going so fast, there wasn't really anyone waiting for him except maybe Bentley, but he was probably asleep and bedridden. The only times Sly had ever seen the turtle awake was when he was working on schematics for a wheelchair he would build that could get him moving again, perhaps even more efficiently than he had when he could have walked. He missed having his whole team together, and the only good thing to come of it was that he could get to know the Inspector a bit better.

That date and time was quickly approaching, and Sly was scrambling to get himself ready. He had attempted to make himself look a bit less scraggly, with the top half of a suit - no tie, though, he didn't own one - and a pair of jeans - considering he didn't have dress pants either. He had reluctantly left both his favorite hat and his beloved cane at home. The former because it made him look messy, and the latter because someone might recognize him if he brought it with him. He left his mask, too, even though he didn't look much different without it.

Carmelita had asked to be brought to some brand-new fancy restaurant somewhere on the outskirts of Paris that she had heard about. And, of course, he had accepted, the following day getting the reservations and listing them under her name, since he hadn't yet thought of a fake name for himself should someone ask who he was while they were together.

The thief descended the stairs from his room to the front door, and glanced back to the rest of the hideout out of habit. He sighed, a bit melancholy now, and left quietly so not to disturb his friend. As he closed the door behind him, he tucked his hands in his pockets and walked briskly to the complex where his date lived. He couldn't get up the way he usually went, now that he had left behind his cane, so he was just going to have to buzz himself in the normal way. Thankfully, he didn't look like he usually did, and would most likely get in and out without a hitch.

As he neared the building, he got a bit anxious as to whether or not he might be noticed. He stopped at the door, and looked for the button that had her name on it. There it was, under the top floors, 'Carmelita Fox' written in immaculate cursive, complete with adorable girlish heart replacing the dot on the I. He chuckled a bit to himself at the absurdity of someone like her writing it like that, before pressing the little white button.

A few seconds of ringing, and her voice came in with a crackle through the intercom.

"Hello?" she said. There was a bit of hopefulness in her voice that he picked up on, her hoping it was Sly there, he imagined.

"Guess who," the raccoon replied.

"Ringtail? I'll be down in a minute," she said quickly, before Sly could clarify that it was, in fact, him.

Sly waited for what was perhaps four minutes, and then he saw her.

She was wearing a dress, which was a bit shocking in and of itself, seeing her in anything that wasn't the outfit she had on whenever he was chased, but, this dress was magnificent. He didn't know too much about fashion, but he imagined something like this was coveted. It was blue - his favorite color - with a bow tied in at her waist, white fringes, and the actual solid part stopping over her chest, the rest of it that covered her shoulders and part of her back being a sort of transparent blue. He was a bit mesmerized at the sight of her, and Carmelita caught on to the fact.

"Are you going to stand there and gawk at me, Ringtail, or are we going to go?" she inquired, tilting her head. It didn't come out as forceful as she had hoped, because she was a bit infatuated with the idea that Sly liked her enough to be entranced by something as simple as showing up.

"...Right. Yeah, we should probably...go," he said slowly, fumbling for words, with a nod of his head. He was slightly embarrassed he had been caught staring at her, and turned back towards the lot where all the cars were. "Which one's yours, again?"

She didn't give him a verbal answer, instead opting to fish her keys out of her handbag, press the button twice so that it beeped, and tossing the keys towards Sly which he instinctively caught.

"Wonderful."

He opened first Carmelita's door, letting her climb in first, before he got behind the wheel, pulled out of the lot, and headed towards the place. It was quiet at first, before Carmelita broke the silence.

"You look nice."

"A compliment? Who are you and what have you done with Carmelita Montoya Fox?" he said back, a wry smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Oh, come on, Sly, I'm not that cold-hearted," she sighed.

"I know, I know..." Sly shrugged. "You do too, you know."

"I can tell, considering it took you a bit of willpower to get your eyes off of me."

Sly laughed a bit. "Is that really a bad thing?"

"No, I don't suppose it is," she replied, and laughed with him. She turned away from him at that moment, however, the faintest of blushes painting her cheeks. She was right. Sly really _did_ like her.

They talked like that for a while, until Sly figured out where exactly he was supposed to be going and got the two of them into the parking lot leading up to the building. He hadn't exactly figured out what it was called, considering it's name was in French, and the raccoon had never gotten the hang of the language, only learning bits and pieces of it.

He opened his door, closed it, and then walked over to the side the fox was on. He opened her door, let her get out, and closed the door behind her. The thief then chose to take one of Carmelita's hands in his own, and walk like that up to the building. Carmelita smiled at him when he did so, and didn't say anything up until they were actually there. Sly had let go of her hand momentarily to open the door for the both of them, and took it again when they were inside. Someone at the front asked for their names, and Sly gave them Carm's, since that was what he had put their reservations under. There was a moment where they checked the name, and then led the two to a small circular table, Sly sitting on one end and his date on the other.

Two glasses of water were set next to them, and then their waiter asked for their orders. Carmelita got some kind of salad, it sounded, and Sly chose not to get anything - food wasn't what he was there for - but he did ask for a bottle of wine, which they promptly brought a few moments later along with whatever it was his date had ordered.

Sly picked up the bottle, and looked at it for a moment before pouring the liquid into both of the glasses they had been given. He set the bottle off to the side, picked up his wine glass, and drank. It tasted pretty good, he thought. It was quiet for a moment, a few moments, Sly occasionally drinking the wine or the water, and watching Carmelita do the same.

"Isn't that wonderful?" he said.

Carmelita wasn't sure what he meant. "What's wonderful?"

"That we don't have to say anything. We can just...be here, you know?" Sly clarified.

"I guess it is, yeah," she agreed after a while. "Thanks for coming out here with me, Sly. It means a lot to me."

"The pleasure's all mine. After all, _I_ asked _you."_

She laughed a little bit. "Yeah, I know."

"You know, we didn't do the whole 'first date' thing yet. You haven't told me anything about yourself," Sly said.

"Why is it I have to go first?" Carmelita asked.

"Because it's your job to know everything about me, and I know hardly anything about you," he said with a smile.

"Oh, fine," she huffed, and began to tell Sly a few things about her. She was born in France, but both of her parents were from Mexico. She had always wanted to be a police officer, ever since she was a little girl. Her favorite color was orange, Sly noticed. That was noteworthy to the thief.

"Alright, now you know just as much about me as I do you. _Your_ turn," Carm said between sips of water.

Sly simply shook his head. "I can't. Maybe some other time, okay?"

"Aw, come on, Ringtail, why not?" his date inquired, her head a bit tilted.

"There's some...bad stuff in there that I'd rather not talk about right now. We're supposed to be happy right now, after all, right?" he sighed. His ears were flattened against his head, as if it made him sad just to make a passing mention of what had happened when he was younger.

Carmelita nodded, understanding. She wouldn't have told the raccoon anything she didn't want him to know, regardless. She shifted the topic to something else, more for Sly's benefit than it was hers, and the raccoon eventually stopped being sad, perked his ears up, and smiled that ridiculously mischievous smile of his.

Neither of them knew how much time had passed, but what was certain was that they were the last patrons to leave, considering their waiter had come at some point and told them that the establishment was closed. Sly had paid for everything (he had to reassure Carmelita he hadn't stolen any of the money he paid for it with, either) and now there they were, in front of Carmelita's building. He had walked her to the front, and smiled.

"Well, that was fun, huh?" he asked.

Carmelita giggled. "It was, Cooper. It certainly was."

Sly sighed. "As great as that was, I should really be getting home. It's, like, 1 in the morning, and I've got a lot of thieving to do, so..." He let it trail off.

She giggled, again. Sly loved her laugh. It always made him happy whenever she was. "Whatever you say, Cooper." She paused. "Okay then...goodnight, Ringtail," she said.

"Night," he said, shortly before giving her a quick hug and a wave goodbye. He watched her go, and sighed to himself. He was already going to be counting the seconds until the next one. As he turned to walk home, he realized something. Her birthday was going to be coming in a matter of weeks. He was going to have to do something special for her then. He was going to make it the best day of her life.


	5. The Surprise

**Summary: Sly surprises Carmelita on her birthday.**

True to his word, Sly had in fact marked mentally Carmelita's birthday. He had done it a few years ago, out of some kind of spite because he didn't really appreciate the idea that someone knew so much about him and had made it his own mission to learn everything he could about the hot-tempered vixen that had shot at him so many times. But, things were different now. In the past he had discreetly left gifts in her office or at her house, little things that weren't too noteworthy. The raccoon couldn't really remember what those things were, in all honesty, but this time he was determined to make Carm remember this time.

A week or two had passed since their first date. He had prepared himself quite a bit. Thankfully, her birthday was on a Tuesday, which meant not only that she was at work for most of the day so that he could do his work, but that it was going to be a surprise, too. He had already picked out a gift for her, which he had carefully wrapped in an orange-and-blue paper he had found, before putting a little red bow on top. As he set out that night to start the preparations, he decided at the last minute to put one of his calling cards beside the bow. He grabbed his cane, straightened his hat, and was on his way out when he looked back into the rest of the hideout. This time, it was almost broad daylight, which sort of helped in not making the place look as desolate as it usually did.

He thought forlornly about Bentley, who had actually finished that wheelchair he had been working on. He was still trying to get used to not able to walk, but Sly remembered just how smart the turtle was. Bentley would figure it out. He didn't need to worry about him, but he couldn't stop himself. It was a sort of brotherly instinct that had come from growing up with him. He hoped things were alright with him. _Don't you have somewhere to be?,_ he suddenly thought, and the thief nodded to himself a bit before leaving.

It would be somewhere around three hours before the Inspector was home from work, and Sly was going to make full use of that time. He had made it to the complex, and opened the back door. Except, this time, it was locked, so the thief had to pick the lock with the tip of the cane, which he hadn't done for quite some time. He could only remember one other time that he had done that with his cane, but that wasn't what was important. What he was here for was important. He closed the door behind him, and rubbed his hands together mischievously. This was going to be awesome.

It was nighttime now, and Sly had just about worn himself out running back and forth getting all of the things he had needed to decorate the rooms. He had even left a cake on her dining room table, his little present next to it. But, now, it was about time for Carmelita to be coming home. Sly was going to have to make himself scarce for the moment. He had hidden behind an ornate clock, which was in a hallway connecting to the door. Carmelita would be coming through the door, she'd turn on the light, and then he'd lean out and yell " _Surprise!"_ and then she'd probably hit him a few times or something like that before they had their own little party together. _She doesn't like to be kept waiting, after all,_ the raccoon had thought with a smile on his face as he heard her approaching.

Carmelita Fox was, for once, a bit sad she'd had to come home at the end of her shift. She'd had such a great time at the HQ today. They'd thrown her a a party, and for most of the day they'd ate, drank, and laughed, all in celebration of her. It was always nice to have fun like that, every once in a while, before going back to the everyday routine. She got her keys out of her bag, and opened the door. She could have sworn something moved as soon as the door closed with its creaking noise. She leaned over and flicked the light switch before gasping.

Her whole apartment was covered in balloons, streamers, sparkles, confetti, and some other decorations that she couldn't even remember the names to. There was a banner stretching across her living room hallway that had " _Happy Birthday_ " on it, but, the A wasn't a letter. It was Sly's little calling card symbol. And just before she could put two and two together, and tell who had done all of this, someone behind her did it for her.

"Surprise," Sly whispered from behind her.

Carmelita yelped in surprise, and turned around, pointing her shock pistol.

"Woah, woah, easy there, girl. It's just me," Sly said, hands raised, his right hand closed around his cane.

She sighed, and lowered her weapon. "You scared the hell out of me, Ringtail," she breathed.

"Hey, is that not the point of a _surprise_ party?" he asked, lowering his hands and going to lean against his cane.

She looked over everything once more. It was all so elegant, so well put together, it was almost impossible to believe Sly had done all of it by himself.

"I hate surprises," she growled.

"Oh, come on, don't be like that. I worked really hard on this, you know," he retorted, trying to slip in a bit of mock sadness in that statement.

"I can tell." She moved towards the kitchen, which was adjacent from the door, which was also where Sly had left her present. There was a little cake next to it, too, one of those circle ones they sell in department store bakeries, white frosted with balloons on the sides. Sly had put a few candles in it that he hadn't lit yet, since he had wanted Carmelita to be there first.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't remember how old you were turning, so I couldn't get those candles with the numbers on them," he apologized.

"24." She smirked. "I think those number ones look stupid anyways."

"Ah." Sly walked forward. "I suppose it's about time we light them, then, huh?"

"Go ahead. Try not to burn my apartment down," she responded.

Sly had taken a lighter from Carmelita's room while he was setting everything up, and used that to light one candle, before lighting the others with that candle. The pair smiled at each other.

" _Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."_ Sly sang quietly, as they stood there. Sly would have finished, but, Carmelita had ever so rudely leaned forward and blown the candles out mid-song.

The raccoon chuckled a bit, and thought about how she didn't like to be kept waiting. "So, Miss Fox, what did you wish for?"

Carmelita turned to look at him. "I think you already knew I was going to say that it wouldn't come true if I told you."

"I did." he replied coyly.

She scoffed. "You're so ridiculous."

"I am, but, enough about me, it's _your_ day, after all," he smirked.

She looked back at the cake, and noticed the little present there. The vixen picked it up gingerly, and looked it over. "Is this for me?"

"Of course. Open it."

She was one of those people that carefully took apart the wrapping around presents before getting to the actual gift. Sly was a bit anxious there, leaned against his cane, waiting for her response. She didn't expect what it was. It was Sly's paperback copy of his favorite book, _Catch-22._ It was worn a bit on the front and back, the blue cover fading. She opened the cover, and on the title page was a little bit of writing in slightly messy blue ink.

 _Do I love you because I'm crazy, or am I crazy because I love you? It's a catch-22, isn't it?_

 _I'll let you decide, Carmelita._

 ** _-Sly Cooper_**

She was...surprised, to say the least. She hadn't expected something this heartfelt to come from the thief. Most shocking of all, was that he had written that he loved her. She turned to look at him, and he nervously grinned. He hadn't known whether or not it was a good idea to write that on the inside.

"You told me you'd never read it, so I thought...you know," he mumbled. It wasn't like him to be embarrassed like this for anything. But this was different, wasn't it? He truly, and honestly, loved Carmelita with all of his heart. And that love was bound to make him do some things that were kind of dumb, he thought, but that wasn't really dumb, was it? Just kind of...cheesy, he supposed.

"Ringtail..." She stopped herself. "Sly...it's wonderful. Thank you."

He didn't respond for a while. He didn't know what to say in response. "You're welcome."

"Well, at least now I can read it, right?" she said, trying to lighten the mood.

He shrugged. "It's a bit confusing at parts, but, yeah, it's a great book." He stopped leaning against his cane, setting it against a wall so that he could move his hands easier. "You know, I carried that cake for what I think was a mile until I got here. I'm gonna eat it."

And with that, Sly did help himself to the silverware in Carmelita's kitchen, amid her protests, until she finally gave in an asked for a piece herself. The raccoon smiled, and brought her a piece along with his own. It was vanilla, she noticed, with icing separating the cake in the middle. That was her favorite kind of cake. _How did he know that?_ she wondered, because something told her Sly did that because he somehow _knew._

"Sly, did you steal this cake?" she found herself asking.

There was a pause. "Maybe," he said, a smirk on his face.

She sighed. "I could arrest you for that, you know."

"But you wouldn't."

"You don't know that."

"I do, as a matter of fact."

 _Damn._ He wasn't wrong. She wouldn't. "You're lucky this is my favorite, otherwise I _would_ be arresting you," she shot back, picking up her fork to take a bite of the cake. She closed her eyes for a moment as she took the bite. It was wonderful, just as she had predicted it would be.

"That good?" he asked. She just nodded in reply. Sly shrugged, and took a bite of his own. He blinked a few times. "Wow."

"I know."

They sat there for the rest of the night, talking, and eating that seemingly heavenly cake. Sly listened to Carmelita tell him about her day, what had happened at the HQ, and even complain a bit about some of the other people she worked with. Surprisingly, Sly found himself unable not to listen, considering he really was interested, even stopping her to ask questions every once and again.

She had stopped ranting about her coworkers long enough to ask Sly how he'd been recently. He shrugged, and told her he was fine, that he wasn't planning any heists for a while, that sort of thing. She asked why not, for some reason, and he brought up that his best friend's legs had been irreparably broken because of Clock-La. Carmelita could sense a bit of hurt in his eyes. He thought that it was his fault it had happened. The fox found herself trying to console him, and Sly simply nodded.

Carmelita checked her watch a while in. It was midnight. They'd been at that table for hours.

"Sly, it's getting kind of late. I think maybe it's about time you leave," she said.

The raccoon did get up, and amble over to his cane, asking her, "Oh, Miss Fox, do you _really_ want me to leave?" He picked it up, and twirled it a bit.

"Yeah, kinda."

"Really, now?" he asked. He was approaching her, that cane brandished in one hand. "I think, deep down inside you..." He swung the cane outward, with the intent of pulling her to him. Carm saw this coming, and caught the gold head of the cane, and pulled. Sly's iron grip on the hilt of his cane pulled him towards Carmelita, and she smiled. She'd won this time.

"...that I don't? You'd be right," she said softly, and embraced Sly. His cane clattered to the ground, and they kissed, the atmosphere becoming one of affection and frenzy. They stood like that for a while, before Sly opened one of his eyes, and without breaking away from Carmelita, led them into her bedroom. The pair had lay there, holding one another, locked together in an unbelievable combination of love and lust. It was as if pent up emotions spanning several years had chosen then and there to let themselves go.

When it was over, they curled up underneath the covers, Sly holding Carmelita close to him. They had been remarkably quiet, considering both of them had been rather loud in their act just moments ago. They were drifting off to sleep, but Sly had one last thing to say before hand.

"...Carm?" he asked quietly.

"Mhm?" she mumbled.

"I love you," he said into her ear.

"Love you too, Ringtail. Now let me sleep," she muttered back to him.

He was content with the answer. He closed his eyes, and beside his lover, drifted to sleep with the knowledge that everything was going to be alright.

 _Happy birthday, Carmelita Fox._


	6. The Morning

**Summary: The morning following Carmelita's birthday.**

Sly had woken up that morning to find that he was still there, and that he had, in fact _not_ imagined the events of last night. But, as he turned his head to see if his lover was still there, lo and behold, she wasn't. He didn't know what time it was, and he was under the impression she had gone to work, and perhaps left him there to let himself out. He sighed, and got himself up out of her bed, clothed himself, and walked through the open door.

Most of the decorations were still up, except for a few banners or streamers they had torn down, probably while he was guiding the both of them to the room. As he went to get his cane and leave, he saw that Carmelita was still there. She sat at the table, a cup of coffee on the table. She had the book he had given her open and on the table, and she was definitely reading it. She looked up as she heard Sly come in, and smiled.

"Morning, Ringtail," she said.

"Morning, Carm," he replied. He went rummaging through her cabinets again with the intent of making himself a cup of coffee. He got another one of her mugs, and poured a cup for himself out of the pot, before moving to sit opposite her at the table.

He couldn't help but notice the picture on her mug. It was his calling card, but she had drawn an X over each eye to give the appearance that he was dead. He found himself laughing at how absurd that was, and she looked up from the book to glare at him.

"What's so funny, _mapache?_ " she asked confusedly.

"Your...your cup," he clarified.

She closed the copy of _Catch-22_ to pick up her mug, drink, and then look at it from the side. She smiled a bit, the faintest of blushes adorning her cheeks. "I forgot I had this. I didn't expect you to see that I had it either, to be honest," she said.

"Oh, it's not that bad. It's actually kind of cute, you know," Sly shrugged.

"I wasn't planning on getting rid of it, anyhow," Carmelita admitted.

Sly drank from his own cup, and sighed. "What time is it?"

She looked at her watch. "9:32 A.M."

He smirked. "Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"I took a personal day. After all, I couldn't just leave you here, could I?" she asked.

He shrugged again, sipped. "You could have. I'd have gone home anyhow."

It was her turn to shrug now. She enjoyed his company, and vice versa, but there wasn't a way to say that without sounding kind of weird, she thought.

"'It was love at first sight,'" Sly absentmindedly said.

Carmelita thought he was talking about them, and flushed. "Well, I don't know about that..."

Sly realized his mistake, and shook his head a bit. "No, no, those...those are the first words of the book. _Catch-22._ 'It was love at first sight.'" He paused. "You really don't think so?"

Carmelita looked up, thinking. "I don't know. Maybe. All I know is, what we have now is good enough," she decided.

The raccoon thought about it. "That's sort of how it was for me, you know. When I first saw you...it was a cold day, wasn't it?"

"It was at that opera house. You were on the roof when I saw you. I was surprised, actually, at how attractive you were."

He chuckled. "Didn't even have to say anything, you thought I was hot from the start, huh?"

She turned away a bit. "Shut up."

"Anyhow, what was I trying to steal again?"

"It was a diamond. Really expensive one too. It was red. You know how rare those are?"

"Bentley tells me that they're the rarest. Well, he told me that night, after I sorta..."

"You left it for me."

"Well, you seemed like you were in a bit of trouble, so I thought, why not? You know how much stuff I've tried to steal that I ended up just giving to you so I would always get to see you?"

She certainly could recall. Sly had led her to all of the members of the Fiendish Five, the Klaww Gang, and had gotten her a promotion by faking his arrest. He did all of that for her, and she thought it was adorable. "You did all of that just for me?" she asked. She was astonished that the raccoon had done something like that just for her, for love's sake, no less.

"Yep, but you know what was the most important thing?"

"What?"

"I got away. I didn't get that diamond, but I like to think I took something else that day."

"Let me guess: my heart."

"Am I really that predictable?"

"Honestly? Yes."

"It's true though, isn't it?"

She took another drink of her coffee, and recoiled at how cold it had gotten. How cold it was compared to how warm she was on the inside. This was something she had coveted for a long time, this very conversation, what they had done last night, all of it. And yet, she was reluctant to answer this time. It might have had something to do with how Sly was going to be...Sly about it. _His name's a pun, and I hate it so much,_ she bitterly thought. _It probably isn't even his real name,_ she followed it with.

"Yeah, but even so, you can't very well put what we have in a vault, can you?"

"My vault isn't soundproof, so...no."

"What's that supposed to-" She didn't get it at first, but the realization at what he was implying struck her like a ton of bricks. "Oh, my God, you're horrible, you know that?"

He started laughing. "You didn't seem to think so last night."

"I recall you saying I wouldn't shoot you. Right now, you'd be wrong."

Sly took a drink of his own coffee. He didn't mind it being cold. He preferred his iced anyhow.

"If you shot me, I wouldn't be able to...shall we say, _assist_ you."

She groaned, and let her head fall to the table with a thud. Everything on it shook a bit. "Is there a line you won't cross, raccoon?"

"I don't think so, no," was his response, followed by another sip.

"I feel like my face is on fire. Can we not talk about this right now?" she pleaded.

He was quiet for a bit. He had gone a bit too far, he realized. "Yeah, okay," Sly said, with a nod that she couldn't see because Carmelita was too busy hiding her face from him. Her hair was the only part of her head that he could see, the blue, bedraggled curls cascading partially over her arms.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask; is your hair really that color?"

She lifted her face up. She hadn't expected him to _actually_ stop. The question was a good one, though, she had to admit; a lot of people had asked her over the years if her hair was always that color.

"Yeah, it is. I was born that way. It's a really uncommon thing, they said."

"You know, blue's my favorite color."

"It's a shame there's nothing orange about you that I could compliment you on."

"I suppose I'll have to find something, yeah?"

She shrugged, sipped, opened her book again. It was quiet for a bit after that, Sly sitting there, finishing up his cup of coffee, and watching Carmelita read, and occasionally stop to laugh. He smiled a bit every time she did that. He could tell what bits she was at just by her reactions. Laughter at the ridiculous conversations between the squad, sniffling at the part where they detailed Snowden's death, that sort of thing.

"You seem to be enjoying that," Sly interjected.

"Hm?" She looked up. "Oh, yeah. Thanks, by the way."

"Don't mention it. Think of it as a second present," he said with a wink.

"What was the first-" She realized what he meant mid sentence, again. She rolled her eyes, and closed the book again. It irritated her sometimes how he always acted like that. But, it was funny sometimes. She couldn't help but smile at him, as ridiculous as he could be sometimes.

"Well, Carm, it was nice hanging out yesterday and all, but..." he sighed. "I gotta be getting back home. Bentley's probably wondering where I am."

"Ah. Tell him I said hi."

"You know I probably can't do that, right?" he said, as he got up to open the back door.

"Oh, right, I forgot." She paused. It was kind of hard keeping it secret.

"One of these days, maybe I'll be able to." Sly thought out loud. "Not now though."

Carmelita nodded, stood, and hugged Sly. She handed him his cane, and said, "See you later, Ringtail."

He smiled, gave her a little salute, and bounded out. He dropped off the edge, and Carmelita gasped a bit before Sly waved his hat at her from off the side, and then lowered himself down off the side. She breathed again, a sigh of relief. _Damn it, Sly..._ she thought.

When Sly got back to the safehouse, the last thing he expected to see was Bentley. He was mobile, and somewhere other than his room, which in and of itself shocked the thief a bit. He had finished that wheelchair, it seemed. It was very impressive. Sly didn't expect it to be as cool as it was. The turtle turned his head when he heard the door open, and from behind his glasses, Sly could see his eyes widen.

"Sly?! Where on Earth have you been?" Bentley demanded. "I've been worried sick about you ever since I woke up and found you gone!"

The raccoon sighed. "I didn't mean to worry you. I was out, and...you know," he mumbled, not exactly knowing how to tell him where exactly he was.

"I _do_ know, Sly. And I'm a bit ashamed of you, to say the least," Bentley murmured, pushing his glasses back into place. "It's her job to stop you from being a thief, you know. Stop _us._ "

"Wait." He _knew?_ "How...how long have you known?" Sly asked.

"Oh, probably...six months?" the turtle guessed. "A while. I sort of...bugged you."

"Really?" Sure enough, Sly took off his hat, and looked inside of it. A small cylinder was taped to the inside of it, which Sly could tell was probably a microphone. He hadn't expected **this,** either. "And you did this because...?"

"Well, knowing what I do, _you_ probably weren't going to tell me where you were. Speaking of which, why are you over there in the first place?"

Sly couldn't exactly tell Bentley why, because he himself didn't truly know. What he and Carmelita had was rather complicated, which made it hard to put into words.

"Well, you know...having, uh, someone like her could be helpful. For our heists. You know." He hoped that Bentley hadn't heard exactly everything.

The turtle sighed. "And you have a thing for her?" It was obvious to Bentley, and probably would have been to Murray if he had been there.

Sly saw no point in lying now. " _And_ I've got a thing for her."

"Well, I can't tell you what to do, but I'll say this: be careful, Sly. Something horrible could easily happen to one of you. Or both of you." the turtle wondered.

"Right. I'll be careful. Thanks, Bentley. Oh, one more thing."

"What is it?" Bentley asked.

"Carmelita says hi." Sly told him.

"She told you to-you know what, never mind. There was something else I wanted to talk to you about, though..."

Sly sat down in one of the chairs in the room. This was important if Bentley had to tell him in person. "Go on."

"I've been planning another heist. We could have it ready in a month or two, but we have to get everyone back together."

"Really, now? This should be good."

Bentley nodded his head. "Not just Murray, though. We'll need more help than that."

"Let's do it, then." the thief agreed.

Bentley began explaining the specifics, and Sly had one last thought before he began to focus.

 _I bet she'll be there._


	7. The Stars

**Summary: Sly and Carmelita talk one last time before Sly leaves on his heist.**

Sly was surprised to find out that when it boiled down to it, he wasn't really stealing anything that wasn't already his. Bentley explained to him that Kaine Island was where the Cooper vault was, which meant that everything in that vault was from his ancestors, which made it all his. Sly and Bentley would be leaving the next day to start their recruiting, but Sly had one last thing to take care of.

He felt somewhat obligated to let Carmelita know where he'd be, so that she could be there too. She'd come, they'd do their little routine, and then he'd get away, but he'd leave her something. There had to be something in that vault that she could use to keep Interpol off of his back. That night, he had sneaked into the darkness of Paris to let her know.

 _I really don't need to do this, do I?_ he thought. She'd find out one way or another, he probably didn't have to tell her. But, he realized, it was an excuse to talk to her. Then again, he didn't really need an excuse, did he? He was always welcome around there, he figured, after all the pair had done together.

As he neared her building, he noticed that the fox was out on her balcony already, looking up into the sky. She was looking at the stars, he figured. _I never took her for the type of girl to stargaze,_ he thought. She didn't see him yet, so Sly decided he'd get her attention. He cupped one of his hands around his mouth, the other on his cane, and called out to her.

" _Miss Fox!_ " he called. It brought her out of her inner world, and her gaze averted from the night sky to down at Sly. He could almost feel her rolling her eyes at him as he climbed up to be with her.

"So, Ringtail, what do _you_ want?" she asked him when his cane grasped one of the bars on the railing, and he jumped up onto the balcony.

"I wanted to come and see you, is all, _mi amor._ Aren't I allowed to do that?" Sly replied. He moved forward to take one of Carmelita's hands, and kiss it, before grasping it in his own.

A shiver ran through the vixen's body. Every time he touched her, she got nervous, and flustered, and, well...other things. She couldn't name some of the emotions that she felt. She'd never let that show, though. It'd just give him more reason to keep doing it, and make it worse. But he also made it better, didn't he?

"As grateful as I am that you'd run through Paris just to come see me, it'd be nice if you'd call me and give me a heads up or something."

"But then you wouldn't be surprised, and that's the best part."

"I told you before, I hate surprises." she sighed.

"Then I suppose that means you hate me, considering I'm _full_ of surprises, aren't I, Miss Fox?" he responded, with a wink.

"That you are." She didn't say any more, going back to looking up into the sky. She came outside to look at the stars whenever she had something on her mind, something that bothered her that she needed to think about or get away from. But there was something else that got her to forget her troubles.

Him.

He was looking up with her now, she realized. "You know, I remember Bentley telling me once that some of the stars that we can see are dead and that we just can't see that yet."

"That doesn't make them any less beautiful," Carmelita replied.

"I could say that it doesn't make you any less beautiful, either, but that would be cliche," Sly mused.

She smiled at him, and said nothing back.

"So, Carm, I'm going to be away for a while." he stated. She chuckled a bit. _He's going on one of his heists, isn't he?_ she thought.

"What are you stealing this time?" Carmelita asked.

"Nothing that isn't already mine, let's just say," he responded. He wasn't going to tell her any more than that, she understood. They were quiet again, for a while, as she thought about it. She wasn't really entirely approving of his going off and stealing things. It was her job to try and stop him. They were opposites, something like what they had shouldn't exist.

And yet it did.

"Sly?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you steal?"

He had expected her to ask. "Same reason you're a cop. My family's always done it. My dad, he taught me to be a master thief. I only steal from other thieves. He gave me his cane before he...died." he said, hesitant to finish the sentence. It pained him to talk about his parents' deaths.

"Oh." They had told her when she was assigned his case that he was an orphan, but she still felt bad for him. _Is this what he hadn't wanted to talk about on our date?_ she wondered. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thank you. Since you asked though, my family steals to make a name for itself. To survive. That sort of thing, you know?" he explained. "Not only that, but it's a pretty big plus that it's fun," he finished.

The pair looked at each other, and Sly smiled, shortly before Carmelita did. Sly was smiling because he was fondly remembering some of his escapades as a thief, with his friends. Carmelita smiled because, well, it was difficult for her not to when it came to Sly. His stupid-looking smile, his suggestiveness that was specifically for her, all of it was worthy of a smile. She regretted that they had been so different, born from two families with opposite morals. There was a wall between them, she realized, a wall that kept them from truly being together.

"You ever think about quitting? Settling down, that sort of thing?" she asked.

He slowly nodded. "I have...but I can't just yet. I'm only 21, Carm, I've got my whole life ahead of me. Plenty of time to do what I love to do. But I will. I'll settle down, and have my own family, but...not yet, I'm afraid," he responded.

His grip ever so slightly tightened on her hand at the mention of a family. Whether it was because he saw Carmelita as his family, or because he missed his real family, the vixen wasn't sure. She had a feeling, though, that it was the former rather than the latter. She was disappointed, though, that he was putting his thievery over their relationship. That was something, she thought, that was just one of the bricks in the wall.

"I understand," she said in confirmation, but truly, she didn't _._

"I'm leaving tomorrow. I trust you'll be there to stop me, Inspector?" he said playfully.

"I'm going to have to be there, now that you've told me," she confirmed.

He chuckled. "That'll be fun, won't it?"

She couldn't help but laugh a bit with him. "I guess so."

He was quiet for a bit, as if thinking for another thing to say. "So, you stargaze, huh?"

She nodded. "Just from up here. It helps me whenever I'm distracted."

Sly had an idea, an idea that would involve giving her a distraction. With that thought in mind, the raccoon embraced her from behind, arms draped around her neck, locking above her waist as he pulled her close to him. She could feel the hotness coming up to her face as he did so, and she tensed up a bit. Sly could tell, and the vixen could almost feel him smirking from behind her.

"Is something making you nervous, Miss Fox?" he said, as coyly as ever, a look on his face that said he knew _exactly_ what it was.

"Sly, stop it," she demanded, but she knew deep down he wasn't going to, and that she didn't want him to either.

His head was leaning in closer, and he began planting kisses on her neck and cheeks, his hands gliding around from her waist to her hips. _He's teasing me, isn't he?_ she thought. He knew that he couldn't stay with her, because he was leaving, so he was giving her something to think about. A sort of 'to be continued'. He started lightly nipping at her neck, bites that were hard enough to hurt a bit, but not hard enough to break the skin. Her tail started to sway back and forth across his legs uncontrollably, a response Carmelita had no control over. And he was enjoying every minute of it. _Oh, you son of a bitch._

She was starting to enjoy it, before Sly stopped altogether.

"It's getting late, Inspector. We'll have to continue this later, unfortunately," he said, a bit of mock sorrow tracing his voice, complete with his ears flattening against his head and his own tail stopping its own wagging. He was a bit sad they'd had to pause there, as well, but not as sad as the fox was.

" _Unfortunately,_ " she growled. She was torn between clawing his face and forcing him to spend the night with her, both of which probably wouldn't have been a good idea.

"Yes. I'll see you at the island, Miss Fox." And with that, he briefly locked his lips with hers in a goodbye kiss, and fled from her balcony into the darkness below. She could see his silhouette run through the street lights, and she sighed. Carmelita would definitely be finishing what that conniving jerk had started, whether he was up to it or not. This wasn't over just yet.

She looked up into the stars again. They certainly were good at calming her down. Right now, that was exactly what she needed, considering she was so warmed up now. She was practically a nervous wreck because of him, his strong hold around her, and his obvious love for her. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted the feeling to go away. She had never felt like this around anyone before.

It was so wonderful.


	8. The Renewal

**Summary: The aftermath of the events of Sly 3, which was the heist. Sly thinks about everything he's done, both with his friends and Carmelita.**

Looking back on it now, Sly wondered if it were in fact possible for something to go right and wrong at the same time, if it were possible for something to be so good and yet so bad.

Everything was going so smoothly up until she'd shown up.

Sly knew Carmelita was going to be on Kaine Island. It was to be expected from the Inspector, to say the least. To be honest, he was shocked she wasn't there sooner. Sly could remember a smile on his face, and a scowl on hers, as she brandished that shock pistol of hers.

What he hadn't expected, however, was that she would be in the line of fire. Dr. M, who had been trying to break into the vault for perhaps years, would have shot the vixen. The mandrill had an extensive knowledge on Sly's family, which was because he was a member of his own father's gang. And he took a shot at her only because he knew it would hurt Sly.

It did hurt, because Sly willingly took he shot for her. He wasn't going to let her get hurt, especially not because she was chasing the raccoon. He'd blacked out for a moment after taking the hit, but when he came to, his beloved was standing above him, gingerly looking over. He remembered the whole exchange afterwards, for the words they'd chosen resulted in a decision that completely changed the thief's life.

* * *

 _His head hurt terribly as he looked up. He groaned in pain. "What happened...?" he'd asked._

 _She was scared that he wasn't going to wake up. "Sly?" she'd quietly questioned. She kind of wanted to tell him how she'd beaten the bastard who'd shot him, but that was a story for another time, when he wasn't laying on the ground of his collapsing vault._

 _He had moved his head around, getting full view of the cavern that was the vault. He had an idea. "Where are we? What is this place?"_

 _"Sly?" she'd said again. The idea that he was messing with her passed through her, before it began to make sense. He had amnesia. The shot had messed with his head, and now he didn't know what was going on. "Can you remember anything?"_

 _"...No." he'd responded with a shake of his head. He looked up into her eyes, eyes that were crying out to him, and desperately wanted to tell her the truth, to sweep her off of her feet and carry her home, but what he'd had in mind was going to be so much sweeter. "Who're you? You look...familiar."_

 _She'd almost had a panic attack. He didn't remember her. But maybe she could trigger something. maybe it would come back to him. "I'm Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox." she had told him hopefully._

 _He knew, of course, but he had to put on a show, somehow make her believe he didn't know. "And...who am I?"_

 _"You..." she said, letting it trail off. She had an idea of her own. "You're my partner, Constable Cooper." If she'd had more time with him, she could get his memory back._

 _It was everything he could do to stop himself from smiling. She was just as crafty as he was. He stood up, gritting his teeth at how much it hurt. "Well, partner, we'd better get out of here." He looked up. "The ceiling's gonna go. We haven't got much time."_

 _She nodded, a smile on her face to match his confusion. "Let's go."_

* * *

He wasn't going to lie, he almost didn't regret anything. Certainly, it was going to come back to bite him that he was lying to her, but for now, everything was going wonderfully. Sly had left his cane, pouch, and a calling card inside the vault in the hopes that his gang would find it. They'd left in an Interpol helicopter, where Carmelita sat right by his side and explained to her what had happened on the island. They were there to take down a criminal who'd been hiding out there, which he knew she meant to be Dr. M. She told him that he was about to get him, when he'd gotten shot and blacked out. Carmelita had finished him off, cuffed him, and helped Sly to his feet.

When they made it back to Paris, Carmelita made certain that Sly got excellent medical attention, and the doctors tended to his wound and examined him after Carmelita told them that he had amnesia. They couldn't find anything wrong upstairs, thankfully, so they told Carmelita that he may or may not remember whatever it was that he forgot, and to simply hope for the best.

The best definitely was what followed. Interpol actually decided to play along, giving Sly a position in their ranks. It was most likely so that they could keep an eye on him, to make sure he'd had amnesia, and that was a fair thing to wonder about. He was grateful for his knew life, but there was something eating at him on the inside, and it was something he'd never had before.

Guilt. He felt guilty for lying so much, the lies stacking with almost everything he said to Carmelita. Not so much for lying to Interpol. He was deceiving them, after all, but it wasn't them he was trying to convince that he had changed.

It was her.

She'd been there for him every step of the way, and they'd even let the pair work together on some occasions. Since Sly had nowhere else to go, Carm had offered to let him stay with her. Sly knew for a fact that she didn't approve of what he did, and that what he did was what kept them from truly being an item. So he devised a plan to leave his old life behind, and turn over a new leaf.

And with that, their relationship picked up right where it left off. He'd gathered up the courage to ask if she'd like to go out with him. He didn't think she'd want to be with him now that he'd forgotten their past, he was thinking, but thankfully for him, she'd smiled and agreed. They'd been out to a few different places, but one that stuck with him was how the first place they went was where they'd gone on their first date when he'd asked when their relationship was secret, with a wall that kept them from getting too close. It was complicated then, because they couldn't be very open about it. The only person that knew besides the participants was Bentley, and he only found out because he made it his mission to do so.

But now, it was significantly less complicated, now that they could tell people. Of course, Carmelita knew that some people didn't approve of it. Some even suspected it as having been going on for longer than they said it had. She'd denied so, of course, and so had Sly, but that wasn't going to stop it. She didn't care, and neither did he. They had each other now, and that was all that mattered.

Carmelita did make Sly finish what he had started that night with the stars looking down upon them, but there was something different now. There was a closeness that wasn't there before. A closeness that came with their fresh start, with a new beginning that was certain to lead to something wonderful.

As he stood there on the balcony he had scaled so many times to get to her, holding her hands, he thought about all of that. He looked back on what he had done, wondering if the choice he had made was for the better. It was obvious once he looked at her in the moonlight, the blueness of her hair contrasting with the blue of her dress. She definitely remembered it was his favorite color. Her eyes were filled with nothing but adoration, and love. Sly felt like he could drown in them. They were in love, it was plain to see.

They said nothing to one another. There wasn't anything to be said. He was content with the atmosphere as it was, and so was she. Something caught Sly's eye, though, in his peripheral vision. A glint. Something metallic. He momentarily averted his eyes, and he saw him.

Bentley. He had a feeling his turtle friend knew where he was from the start. The brains of his operation probably had his binocucom, that communicator/binoculars thing that he had invented for their heists, so that they could get in contact easier. He was probably concerned about Sly, which was why he was checking in on him. But if he knew where Sly was, why hadn't he made an attempt to get in contact with him? Perhaps he was content with a life of his own without Sly and Murray. Maybe he was involved with Penelope, that mouse girl that they'd recruited for the Cooper Vault heist.

The turtle was worried now that Sly had seen him. He didn't know what his raccoon friend would do, give away his position, ignore him, what? But then Sly just smirked at Bentley, and winked. A wink. It told him a lot. Told him that he was fine, that he knew he was there, and that he should probably get out of there before he found some way to get away from his girlfriend and hunt him down.

He was probably imagining that last one, though. Regardless, he sighed, and put his binocucom down. With a shake of his head, he said to himself one last thing before heading back to their old hideout. He couldn't help but chuckle as he did.

"That sneaky devil..."

If Sly could have heard that, he would have most certainly agreed. He was being sneaky, but that was what he did. He was a Cooper. His whole family was sneaky. He was pretty sure one of the synonyms for _sneaky_ was _sly_ , after all. Right now, though, that wasn't what he was doing.

If he was being sneaky, it was only because he loved Carmelita, and wanted to keep the two of them safe. Being a thief wasn't exactly the safest profession, after all. His parents had died, after all, because his dad hadn't left the game behind. He couldn't do that if he wanted his family with Carmelita. He had to call it quits at some point or another, and he figured, now was better than later.

"Carm, don't you think it's about time we go back inside? It's cold out here," he said.

She smiled at him. "Alright, Ringtail."

Hands still clasped together, they went back inside of Carmelita's apartment, and Sly made certain to close the door behind him this time, and lock it. He wasn't going to be going back out, after all.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm going to start doing these now. Anyhow, thanks for reading, and supporting me in your reviews. It's always nice to know I'm writing something other people are enjoying. Definitely leave any questions, comments, or concerns in there. I'm always open to ideas, or anything of that nature. Have a good one!**

 **\- FlareGun343**


	9. The Room

**Summary: Carmelita gives Sly his own room in the penthouse, and realizes just how different it is living with him.**

Carmelita Fox had soon come to realize that living in the same house as Sly Cooper would become very problematic at times. She had thought about what it would be like if they had ever gotten married, or if he had needed somewhere to lay low for a while when he was still a thief, but what she had imagined was far from the truth.

He had his own room, which was supposed to have been the guest room in Carmelita's penthouse apartment, but she supposed Sly was the only guest she'd be getting for a while, so she let him have it. He scarcely ever slept in it, so it confused her as to why he would ask for it. She found out one day after he'd gone home early from work claiming he was sick. When she couldn't find him anywhere else in the house five hours later when she actually got off of her shift, she found out exactly why he wanted it.

Apparently Sly didn't like the way the rest of the place looked, so he wanted one room to decorate. Carmelita would have been fine with it if he had asked, and she thought for a moment that maybe he knew it would bother her if he didn't ask. She was calling his name in the penthouse, the echo that resounded telling her he wasn't home, until he said "in here" as if he was challenging her to enter the room.

She accepted the aforementioned challenge, and the room was blue. There was a _**lot**_ of blue. The walls were a royal blue, which was Sly's favorite shade, she remembered, and the curtains were a sky blue. The mattress on the indigo bed frame was white, but the entirety of it was covered in the, of course, blue sheets, covers, and pillows. The only things that weren't blue happened to be the television with its black borders (which was atop a navy blue dresser) and the loveseat in the middle, which was also black. His head poked up from where he was lying, and he waved a hand.

"Pretty cool, right?" he said, a smirk on his face. "I put it all together myself."

She was in a state of complete disbelief. The rest of the penthouse was mostly white, gray, or black, with a few splotches of orange or blue ever since he had come to live with her, but she hadn't expected there to an entire room that was just... _blue._ She couldn't say anything, and just sort of stood in the doorway, eyes darting around the room.

"Oh, come on, Carm. Don't tell me this room makes you feel... _blue,"_ he snickered.

That got her going again. "You know what, don't tell _me_ that you spent several thousand euros to paint a room a color just to joke about it."

"I didn't. It was only, like, 400, I think." he replied, before lying back down to face the screen.

She sighed, and left, closing the door quietly. She wondered at times like these if he really had amnesia, what with his ability to put such phenomenal things together quickly and quietly. _How did he paint and furnish an entire room in five hours?_ she thought to herself. Maybe it had nothing to do with his having been a thief, maybe it was just one of his personality traits. Something that you couldn't get rid of with a little electric shock. As interesting as it was, his unbelievable stealthiness, she had other things to worry about, and left Sly to be alone in his room.

He was in that room quite a bit after he had made it, but he almost never slept in it, always resting in Carmelita's master bedroom by her side. Sometimes, however, he'd fall asleep on the loveseat after a particularly long session of gaming, for a while after the room incident, he bought himself one of those PlayStation things Carmelita had heard about before, and she could sometimes hear him screaming in frustration at the games he played, but the things he said always made no sense. Things about camping or "spawn trapping", whatever the hell that was.

She recalled him asking once if she wanted to try and learn the games he was playing. He went in there, handed her one of the controllers, took one himself, and started up the game. The screen was cut in half horizontally, which she found confusing in remembering which one was hers. There was a lot of explosions, and shooting, and after about a half hour of it, she completely understood the contempt he felt for the game, and started screaming herself. Sly was a bit terrified, considering she raged much more violently, and in another language.

He had never learned much Spanish, much like he had never learned much French. But he could understand some of the words. It was the most swear words he had ever heard her say at one instant. Sly had learned his lesson, and would never again ask Carmelita to play _Call of Duty_ with him again.

Sometimes, he'd have one of those days where he didn't really feel like doing anything, and just wanted to relax after work. It'd be the weekend, and if they didn't have any plans, he'd curl up on the loveseat, and watch movies for hours. He could finish entire television shows in a matter of days if he wanted to. Ordinarily, Carmelita would be concerned about his lack of activity, but she stopped objecting when he asked her to watch with him.

"Hey, Carm, you wanna come in there and watch something with me?" he'd asked one day after a particularly tiring day.

She'd shrugged. "Sure."

She went in after him, and the first thing she noticed was that the room was rather dark. "It's so I can see the screen better," he explained when she asked why. It really did call attention to the only source of light in the room, which happened to be that screen. As he lay down on the loveseat, he pulled her down with him, snuggled up close, and turned on the movie.

At first, she had wanted to ask what exactly it was they were watching, but she liked how quiet it was. She liked the feeling of him curled up close to her, all warm and cozy. He was watching _Titanic_ , which she thought was funny, considering he didn't seem like the type of guy to watch love stories like that. They were relatively quiet the whole time, as long as the movie was, and afterwards, she could have sworn she heard him sniffling back there.

"Are you...crying, Sly?" she asked, suppressing a laugh with one hand.

"No," was his adamant reply, but she heard him shakily inhale one last time, and then stop altogether.

He scrolled through the selection list for a while after that was over, trying to find something Carmelita wanted to see. She settled on a television show which he had heard about before called _Supernatural,_ which he had never actually seen. He supposed now was better than ever, and he started playing it. Thankfully, it automatically started the next episode, because he rather enjoyed it, and had lost his controller somewhere. Something around five episodes in, Sly fell asleep.

She heard steady, rhythmic breathing behind her, and ever so delicately craned her neck to see that the raccoon was, in fact, sleeping. She had never seen what he looked like asleep before, seeing as how on both weekdays and weekends he always got up before the alarm, sometimes a whole hour or two before. He was always awake before she was. Now, she noticed, he was kind of adorable while he was asleep, that raccoon mask of his seeming to cover his whole face with his eyes closed, mouth slightly hanging open.

She smiled to herself, and rotated again. It was the little things that counted now that they were really and truly together, things like him wanting to spend a whole day doing nothing but watch Netflix with her. She had never quite thought their life together would be anything like this. She had expected more chasing, more little conversations and quips in the dark of the night. This, however, was pretty good too.

She was just as tired as the raccoon was. She shifted around a bit, trying to get more comfortable, before finally settling, and closing her eyes.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry it took so long to come out with this one, it took a while to think of something to write. In response to a review I got, yes, I will be carrying this story through Sly 4, and then I'll have something original from there. This will probably come out to be something around 15-16 chapters long when it's over. Anyhow, thanks for reading. Leave your questions, comments, and concerns in the review box or message them to me. Have a good one!  
**

 **\- FlareGun343**


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